Public Participation in the Digital Age

The present article is a research report on the discourse of religious blasphemy in connection with digital practices in Indonesia. It sought to understand the shift of public participation in shaping the discourse that understood within the framework we identified as “monitory society.” The research employed qualitative approach by using several methods, among others are interview and social media observation. Reflecting upon the current national trends and new shift of political landscape, it appeared that religious blasphemy immersed into the political discourse as weaponized information, hence disrupted the meaning of democracy in digital age, as once become the rhetoric of digital technology. In general, the discourse of religious blasphemy in Indonesia is dealing with public piety and social order. It concerned more on religious boundary rather than the improvement of religious lives and personal piety.

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Lebanon’s waste crisis: An exercise of participation rights

New Media & Society ◽

10.1177/1461444816686321 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 19 (5) ◽

pp. 701-712 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Joe F Khalil

Keyword(s):

Public Participation ◽

Digital Technologies ◽

Digital Age ◽

Children's Rights ◽

Children’S Rights ◽

Waste Collection ◽

Protest Movement ◽

Multilevel Study ◽

Growing Body ◽

Participation Rights

A growing body of research reveals the emergence of forms of youth public participation, intensified by digital technologies, practices and cultures. This is a multilevel study of the reconstruction of Lebanese youth and children’s rights in the digital age through discourses and practices of participation in the #YouStink protest movement against a waste collection crisis. The article explores these rights by focusing on children and young people’s engagement with the movement, their ability to express their views freely and to influence decisions. It analyses how such participation through communicative, cultural and political practices becomes a contested resource for various actors, institutions and networks.

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Government and Digital Engagement Technologies: The Elusive Search for Consensus

10.31235/osf.io/h2vc4 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Audrey E. Lobo-Pulo ◽

José J. F. Ribas Fernandes ◽

Annette Hester ◽

Ryan J. Hum

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Public Participation ◽

Case Studies ◽

Public Engagement ◽

Digital Age ◽

Digital Platforms ◽

The People ◽

Meaningful Engagement ◽

Digital Engagement ◽

We The People

As new digital platforms emerge and governments look at new ways to engage with citizens, there is an increasing awareness of the role these platforms play in shaping public participation and democracy. We examine three case studies on digital engagement (vTaiwan, We the People, and social media), and discuss key considerations for effective public engagement in the digital age: Empowerment, time to deliberate, transparency, useful data, consensus, and dynamic engagement. We hope that these serve as a basis for constructing meaningful engagement.

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Concealing Corruption: How Chinese Officials Distort Upward Reporting of Online Grievances

American Political Science Review ◽

10.1017/s0003055418000205 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 112 (3) ◽

pp. 602-620 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

JENNIFER PAN ◽

KAIPING CHEN

Keyword(s):

Public Participation ◽

Digital Age ◽

Authoritarian Regimes ◽

Reliable Information ◽

Effective Governance ◽

Lower Tier ◽

Information Manipulation ◽

Upper Level ◽

Internal Communications

A prerequisite for the durability of authoritarian regimes as well as their effective governance is the regime’s ability to gather reliable information about the actions of lower-tier officials. Allowing public participation in the form of online complaints is one approach authoritarian regimes have taken to improve monitoring of lower-tier officials. In this paper, we gain rare access to internal communications between a monitoring agency and upper-level officials in China. We show that citizen grievances posted publicly online that contain complaints of corruption are systematically concealed from upper-level authorities when they implicate lower-tier officials or associates connected to lower-tier officials through patronage ties. Information manipulation occurs primarily through omission of wrongdoing rather than censorship or falsification, suggesting that even in the digital age, in a highly determined and capable regime where reports of corruption are actively and publicly voiced, monitoring the behavior of regime agents remains a challenge.

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